


Moonlit Masquerade: White & Red

by Rohad



Series: Moonlit Masquerade [14]
Category: The Owl House (Cartoon)
Genre: Blood, F/F, Gay, Lumity, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-03
Updated: 2020-11-03
Packaged: 2021-03-08 20:27:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 10,213
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27362722
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rohad/pseuds/Rohad
Summary: The ghosts of the past have a way of rearing their heads even as they move forward
Relationships: Amity Blight/Luz Noceda
Series: Moonlit Masquerade [14]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1935769
Comments: 51
Kudos: 571
Collections: We_Love_Lumity





	1. Chapter 1

It was the loud sounds of sawing and crashing trees that woke Eda up early in the morning in late August

"What the hell…," she grumbled, dragging herself up and out of her nest and trudging to the window.

Down below several burley witches in construction hats were clearing away a chunk of the forest just forty yards from the house.

"What. The. Hell?" She narrowed her eyes till she spotted Luz standing nearby looking over a large sheet of paper. "Hmm…" Eda hummed to herself. 

She scratched her head tiredly and walked down the stairs, grabbing a mug of apple blood before meandering into the yard where the kid was.

"What are you doing?" Eda grouched, making Luz look after her.

"Oh, hey, mom." Luz smiled at her, but it lacked its usual perk, making Eda frown. “Overseeing the clearing away of the forest where the house is going to go." 

"This early?" Eda scowled, squinting against the harsh rays of the morning sun. “They woke me up…,” she grumbled. “You’re getting your own place and you’re still waking me up…” she mumbled, taking a long drink from her mug. 

"It's going to be hot later, we have to do it in the morning. They’re gonna get started on it next week… and it’s 10 am...” Luz sighed. Eda just shrugged as she drank from her mug.

“You’re supposed to be up anyway, you’re going with Amity and Mami dress shopping today aren’t you?” she asked.

“Oh yeah… that’s later though, right?” Luz nodded, looking back down at the paper in her hands. “Whatcha lookin’ at?” Eda peered over at the detailed lines on the paper.

“Their plans for the house the construction coven gave us. We had a meeting with them last week about what we wanted. See, here’s the top and bottom floor and these are the two bathrooms, and these are the rooms.” She pointed to the different boxes on the paper, showing both stories.

“You need five bedrooms for the two of you?” Eda cocked a brow.

“No, but Amity wants a study and I want a kind of workshop/office for my projects, and the other two rooms we’ll just use as guest rooms or storage until… we need them.” She shrugged.

Eda caught on quickly.

“Ahh, already planning on a couple of little witchlings, eh?” she grinned and Luz’s face tinted ever so slightly.

“We’re not even considering talking about it right now, no,” she said with finality. “We both do want kids, someday, so we’re just going to build the rooms now. Mami is the only one talking about babies right now.” Luz rolled her eyes. 

“Smart, kid. You can barely keep up with yourself right now,” Eda cackled before taking another drink from her cup and Luz pouted. 

“Keep it up and Mami and Lily are gonna be the only grandma’s my future kids have.” Luz stuck out her tongue. 

That gave Eda pause, she hadn’t even considered that she would be considered a grandmother to Luz and Amity’s future children. It made a warmth spread in her chest that definitely wasn’t the fermented apple blood in her mug. 

When she was quiet for a long moment Luz looked back up at her.

“Mom?” she called making Eda blink before she grinned.

“Pfft, who would teach them how to pickpocket then? You two are pretty good with arson and dismantling governments but you still have fumbling hands, Kid,” Eda chuckled, making Luz roll her eyes even though a grin was pulling at her face. 

“Don’t tell Amity that,” she snorted.

“Don’t tell Amity, what?” They both looked up as the woman herself came walking around the house.

“Nothing,” They both said quickly.

“Yeah, that’s not concerning…” Amity smirked as she stopped next to them. “How’s it coming?”

“They’re almost done, they just need to level off the ground, and then we’re gonna call it a day, I gotta head to the market after.” She handed the blueprints to Amity, who looked them over.

“You’re not coming to buy clothes with the rest of us?” Eda turned to her.

“Naw, it’s bad luck to see the bride in her dress before the wedding and all that.” Luz shrugged.

“You do remember that you are, also, one of the brides, right?” Eda smirked.

“Yeah, but dresses aren’t my style, I’m gonna wear a suit, so Gus and Edric are going with me tomorrow so we can all get our clothes. It’s just easier to treat me like the groom for the planning bits. Lily is gonna come with us though.” 

“What, why Lily?” Eda planted a hand on her hip, frowning.

“Cause the three of us need a ‘voice of reason’ to keep us out of trouble.” Luz air quoted, looking at Amity, who smirked but didn’t look up from the blueprints. 

“I’m a voice of… yeah, ok, no, good call,” Eda grumbled, taking another drink from her mug.

“I still think it would be fine…” Luz grumbled and that did make Amity lookup.

“The last time the three of you did something alone together you burned down three blocks in Bonesburough.

“It WAS a war…” Luz crossed her arms, pouting. A tree crashed, making Luz jump, her shoulders tense, the other two witches don’t seem to notice.

"Behave tomorrow and we'll see," Amity teased with a coy smile, handing back the blueprints.

"I'm not a child!" Luz snapped, snatching them back. Eda and Amity blinked at her in surprise. Eda's face turned concerned, but it was Amity’s that morphed into unconcealed hurt, and Luz frowned, hunching and turning to look anywhere but her fiancée's hurt face.

“Sorry, I’m sorry… it’s just…” her hands clenched on the paper and her eyes turned back to all the cacophonous noise the construction witches were making that sounded so much louder in Luz’s ears than it would most days. Today, every crash made her flinch and a quiet anxiety she couldn’t explain buzzed under her skin. “I think I’m just having one of… those days…,” she finally admitted, looking at the ground.

Understanding flashed on Amity and Eda’s faces.

Ever since the war, they both had days like this, days where things were just hard. Noises and lights were brighter and louder, made them jump and tense without reason as if waiting for something to jump out at them from around every corner. 

She wasn’t sure if it was better or worse than the night terrors that sometimes made her sit up in bed screaming, drenched in a cold sweat, and heart hammering against her ribs hard enough that she was afraid it was going to break loose and waking the whole house as memories of bloody and flaming battlefields flashed in her mind.

Amity stepped closer, wrapping an arm around her back and Luz sighed, leaning her head on her shoulder, sinking into the warm, comforting touch.

“It’s okay, Luz,” she murmured into her ear and rubbed her back. 

She sighed to herself, these days were becoming farther between the more weeks that stretched between them and the end of what was becoming known as the 'War of Reclamation', but that only made the days that did rear their ugly heads that much harder, made her feel like she was failing, she would be having a perfectly good time out in the market or laying in bed when memory would flash through her mind's eye and make her tense. She would be doing so good, and then one of these days would just smack her out of the blue.

She could tell easily when Amity was feeling it, she would clam up, stay in her own head for hours at a time, despondent. Luz had learned the hard way early on when she was like that that she didn't want to be cheered up, she just wanted to be left to the quiet, she would still want Luz nearby, though. She had figured she just wanted to be alone, so the second first time it had happened she went to the living room, leaving Amity in their bedroom, but Amity had followed shortly after and sat silently next to her on the couch, leaning against her. So when she had her days they just sat quietly next to each other on the couch or laying in bed while Luz read or watched dumb soap operas on the crystal ball, her hand in hers and occasionally squeezing reassuringly. 

Luz was different, she would get worked up into a tight ball of anxiety and stress, and when it was bad enough, she needed to be comforted, and held tightly, reminded that it was all really over.

"It's not, I can't take it out on you when I'm… feeling off," she grunted. This was far from having a full-on episode, she knew how those went, she was just tense today.

"I understand though, Luz, you know I do, sometimes it happens..." She kissed her temple and Luz made an agreeing noise. "Maybe you shouldn't go to the market today…," Amity trailed off, running a hand through her hair. Some of the worst fighting in the final days of the war had taken place in the market and if Luz was feeling antsy today that could be a recipe for disaster.

“No, I have a huge batch of orders people are coming to pick up today, I have to be there,” she sighed, standing up straight. 

“I can take your stuff, kid,” Eda offered. 

“No, you’re going dress shopping with the others, it’s alright, I’ll be fine…” she smiled at them, but they both still looked unsure.

“Are you sure?” Amity frowned, looking down at her, worried. 

“Yeah, it’s not bad today, just…” another tree smashed to the ground and Luz visibly flinched and Amity’s grip on her tightened. “... that.” 

Amity bit her lip. She wanted to argue, but the fact of the matter was that living day to day with their ghosts from the war was something they just had to do. Letting the horrors of the past suck all the life and joy from their present was never an option, even when it was hard some days, but Luz had developed a habit of throwing herself into activities when she was having one of these days to try and ignore it. Sometimes it worked, and sometimes it had disastrous results by only upping her anxiousness by adding nervous wood to the fire. 

She let go of Luz and summoned her staff, Calliban came to life, crawling off the staff and Amity rubbed his head before he flew onto Luz’s shoulders and nuzzled his snout against her cheek, making her grin.

“At least take Calliban with you today? That way I can be with you in a way,” she asks and Luz smiled at her, that soft, loving smile that made warmth spread through her chest whenever it was on her. 

“Yeah, I’ll take him with me. He and Mochuelo can keep me company,” she hums, pulling Amity back in close to press a soft kiss to her mouth. “I love you.” Amity wrapped her arms around her shoulders and mumbled the words back to her. 

Eda can’t even find it in herself to roll her eyes at the two this morning, only watching them as Calliban curled himself around Luz’s neck. 

The fact that the two’s palisman’s were just as attached to the other as their owners never failed to amuse her. Amity had essentially become one of Eda’s pupils over the years, even if she couldn’t really do magic the way she had once been able to, so when the two had graduated, Amity had chosen the same route as Luz had in following in Eda’s footsteps and carving their own staffs rather then accepting ones from the school upon graduation.

She could still remember the long nights they had sat on the living room floor working on them, constantly knicking themselves, in the days leading up to graduation.

_“Is it supposed to look like this?” Luz frowned looking at the misshapen blob of wood that was her palisman so far._

_Amity looked over and shrugged, still chipping away at her own hunk of wood with the enchanted chisel._

_“I guess?”_

_Luz hummed, looking up at Eda on the couch questioningly._

_“How’s this look?” she held it up for her mom to inspect._

_“Not bad.” Eda nodded. “Keep working, you just need to focus,” she said, sipping apple blood out of her favorite mug and Luz sighed._

_“I’ve never carved wood in my life, how am I supposed to get a palisman out of this?” she grumbled, laying back on the floor._

_“The tools are enchanted, all you need to do is work diligently and focus your will into them, will them to create what you want,” Lilith instructed from her place next to Eda, overseeing the process._

_“How will it even have magic when I don’t have any?” Luz frowned, wondering, not for the first time if this was a wasted effort._

_“The same way I can still use my staff even though I can’t do spells on my own anymore, Kid. A staff carved by hand from the Isles is its own source of power, this wood is from one of the oldest most magical trees on the Isles, it’s been soaking up natural magic for ages. The ones they give you at school you have to power yourself, they're just conduit’s, but yours will have the wild magic of the Isles embedded into it, you’ll be able to use it, trust me.” Eda assured her with a grin. “Have I ever steered you wrong?” she asked with a confident grin._

_“Uhhh…,” Luz hesitates and Amity snickers, while Lilith smirks behind her teacup, and Eda’s face drops._

_“Don’t answer that, just trust me. You have a gift for drawing on the magic of the Isles, it’ll work.”_

_“Okay, okay,” she grumbled, sitting back up and picking up her chisel again and it glowed bright orange in her hand as she carefully resumed chipping and carving away the wood._

_“So, what animal did you decide on anyway?” She cocks her head, watching the two._

_“It’s a secret.” Luz grinned at her, and winked, Eda just smirked at her._

_“What about you, Kid?” She turned to Amity._

_“A dragon.”_

_“Ooh, that’s so cool, Amity.” Luz grinned at her and she smiled back._

_“An interesting choice, Amity,” Lilith hummed. “Why a dragon?”_

_“Dragon’s symbolize power and wisdom, I want to be both.” she looked up at the older Clawthorne, who nodded, smiling._

_“Oh, they also bring happiness and good luck.” Luz piped up._

_“Are you a dragon now?” Amity mumbled, looking at Luz from beneath her lashes with a small grin, Luz pinked but grinned back._

_“I can be your dragon.” she wagged her eyebrows, making Amity giggle but it was drowned out by Eda’s disgusted groan._

_“If you two are just gonna flirt, you can work in your room with the door closed where I don’t have to watch,” she told both eighteen-year-olds, with a dead-eyed frown._

_“No, no, we’re done,” Luz promised and Eda pretended not to see the wink she threw her girlfriend and rolled her eyes._

_These two made her so tired some days with their love that she found both endearing and disgusting in almost equal measure._

_The two continued to work on their carvings under the two sisters’ watchful eyes, Amity’s had definitely started to take shape. She shucked off another wood chip when suddenly the wood began to glow and floated above her hands as the wood began to flake away like paper before a perfectly carved dragon with a serpentine body and two stick-like horns dropped into her hand. The wood rippled and turned to flesh, the grain turning to golden scales and a blue mane of fur that ringed it’s head and traveled down it’s back to a tuft of blue hair on the tip of its tail. It’s two long whiskers twitched as it looked up at Amity with bright blue eyes that matched the hair of its mane. Luz squealed in excitement._

_“Oh…” Amity stared in awe at the creature sitting wrapped around her palm, his tiny claws poking her skin._

_“It’s waiting, Kid,” Eda told her with a grin._

_“For what?” she looked up at Eda._

_“For you to give ‘em a name.”_

_Amity turned back to the creature still looking at her, its head tilted as if in question. Amity chewed her lip thoughtfully._

_“Calliban,” she finally said and the creature seemed to huff, smoke puffing out of his nostrils as he wrapped himself around her fingers._

_“He’s so cute!” Luz squealed, scooting closer to look at the little dragon._

_She held her hand up to Luz to better see him. the dragon looked at her before uncurling himself from Amity’s hand and flying over to land on her wrist._

_He quickly crawled into Luz’s hand, tail wrapping around her thumb, and Luz bit down on another excited sound as she reached up with her other hand to run her fingers over his scaly body._

_“I think he likes me!” She grinned._

_“That’s no surprise,” Lilith chuckled from the couch. “A palisman is intrinsically attached to their owner. He can easily pick up on Amity’s... affectionate feelings for you.” she smiled and Luz turned her wide, starry gaze to Amity who just smiled, cheeks pink._

_She returned Calliban to Amity’s hand and picked up her own still forming palisman with renewed vigor as the other three watched her chip away at it, tongue poking out of her mouth in concentration._

_Within a few minutes, the process was repeated as the wood glowed and bits of extra wood fell away to reveal a dark brown and white spotted owl that sat on her arm and hooted quietly at her._

_Eda blinked at the creature with wide eyes and tried her damndest not to get choked up as the creature flapped its wings. She feels Lilith’s hand on her shoulder give a comforting squeeze._

_“Ay, que lindo!” Luz bounced excitedly._

_“It’s adorable, Luz.” Amity leaned forward, Calliban nestled around her neck, watching the other palisman with slitted, blue eyes._

_“I’m gonna call you… Mochuelo!” she declared and the palisman hooted, fluffing himself happily._

_“Little owl?” Amity had to think for a second._

_“Yeah! My owlet!” Luz nuzzled Mochuelo to her face and he hooted happily. Amity wanted to reach out and pet the owl but knew well enough that palisman’s were special things, almost sacred to their owners, and had a will of their own. She would need to wait until Luz offered or Mochuelo came to her._

_Which didn’t take long._

_Suddenly the owl’s head spun around on his body and he blinked his large golden-brown eyes at her before flapping his wings and gliding over to land on Amity’s arm. He hooted at her softly, large eyes blinking at her in silent request and she smiled, reaching up to pet his downy soft head, his eyes blinked closed at her touch, chirping. Luz pressed her fists to her cheeks and was grinning so hard it looked painful as she bit down on her happy noises._

_“He likes Amity, no surprise there,” Eda snorted, watching the two play with their palisman’s._

_What Lily said was true, a palisman could easily read your feelings for someone else, but that didn’t necessarily mean they mirrored them. Your Palisman was linked to you and you alone, she’d go so far as to say to your very soul, but they still had independent wills. The fact that the kids’ palisman’s already seemed just as attached to the other as their owners spoke of something much, much stronger between the two then ‘affectionate feelings’._

_She glanced at Lilith who looked back knowingly, but neither said anything. Something to talk about another day._

“I’m going to go pick up your mother. Eda, we’ll meet you when we get back and head to town to meet the other’s.” she turned to her when she and Luz were finally done playing kissy face. 

“Sounds good to me,” Eda yawned and turned to go back inside and change.

“Are you sure you’re okay going to the human world by yourself? I can get Mami” Luz looked at her as she spun a finger to make her ears appear rounded.

“I’ll be fine, your mother lives down the street from the portal, I’ll manage, you finish overseeing this.” she nods to the construction coven leveling off the ground for their house. 

“Alright… just be careful.” 

Normally Amity would roll her eyes, but she can see in her eyes how antsy Luz is today, so she only nods and kisses her cheek.

“I’ll be fine, querida, just wait here.” 

“Okay.” She nodded. With that, Amity walked over to the portal door and Luz watched her until she disappeared. She didn’t like Amity going to a strange world she’d been to once on her own but she needed to finish this and it really wasn’t far. Amity could take care of herself

She took a deep breath and reached up to run her fingers over Calliban’s smooth scaled body and silky fur. His presence always did have a way of making her feel tethered to Amity even when she wasn’t there. 

The construction coven was rolling the last of the trees away, thumping loudly on the ground.

There was a low, quiet, nervous buzzing under her skin, one of the tell-tale signs that she was having one of those days. Calliban growled lowly, pressing his body into her hand and she smiled, scratching his horned head as he tried to comfort her.

“Thanks, buddy.” 

It was only twenty minutes, at max, before the portal door opened and Amity came walking back through with her mother as Luz waved at the retreating construction coven witches.

“Hola, Mami.” Luz grinned as she walked up to them and hugged her mother. 

“Oh, is that where the house is going?” she asked once she pulled back and looked at the freshly cleared and flattened space of forest a stone's throw away from the owl house.

“Yup, they’re starting next week. Actually, it’s only gonna take a week, they sent us all their best builders.” Luz grinned.

“We still haven’t decided if we should move in early or wait till after the wedding like we told Eda we would,” Amity added. 

“We still need to get furniture, a new bed, forks… spoons… well, everything really.” Luz chuckled.

“Well, I know what I need to get you as wedding gifts then.” Camila smiled.

“We don’t need anything from you, Camila.” Amity insisted.

“Nonsense, Carino!” Camila waved a hand. 

“I mean… we could use some towels… or plates…” Luz said, Amity looked at her and she shrugged. Camila could only laugh at the two as Eda emerged from the house

“Alright, let’s get this show on the road!” Eda announced as she walked out of the house. “Oh, hey, Cam," Eda greeted. 

"Buenos días, Eda."

Amity and Luz shared a confused look at that before Amity just shrugged. 

"Since the construction coven left, I guess I'll go ahead and head to the market. 

"You're not coming, Mija?"

"No, I'm gonna get my suit tomorrow with the guys," Luz called as she disappeared inside the house and appeared a few minutes later with her staff and a large bundle of potions hanging from it.

"Welp, me and the boys are off!" 

"The boys?" Camila asked.

"Yeah, Calliban and Mochuelo!" She held up her staff and the tawny owl palisman came to life, fluttering his wings as he settled himself on Luz’s shoulder. Calliban popped his head up from around her neck. Camila ‘oohed’ at the small creatures.

“Amity and mine’s palisman’s respectively.” she smiled as her mother looked with wide eyes at the two magical creatures.

“What’s a palisman?” Camila asked.

“I’ll explain it to ya on the way to town,” Eda slapped a hand on her shoulder as she held up her own staff and Owlbert came to life, hooting at them.

“Right, I gotta get going.” She held up her staff and Mochuelo returned to the top, turning back to wood before she hopped on, floating off the ground.

“Hold on.” Amity stopped her, hand on her arm. “Promise me you’ll take it easy today,” she mumbled so only Luz could hear her. 

“I’ll try…,” she answered honestly and Amity pursed her lips but nodded, at least her answer was honest. 

“Don’t worry about me, mi amor.” Luz kissed her cheek. “See ya later, Mami, mom,” Luz called as she flew off towards town before Amity could say she was going to worry about her either way. 

The flight to town usually helped Luz relax but today the roaring of the wind in her ears was too much and she almost stopped halfway to walk the rest of the way to the market. She frowned to herself, she hated feeling like this, just being constantly on edge and for no reason, but she couldn’t get her body to relax. Her anxious energy buzzed under her skin, quiet, but constant. 

Luz managed to keep the buzzing quiet though as she set up her stand, Mouchelo hopped around on her stand, hooting at every passerby as Calliban sat on her shoulder, his whiskers twitching and occasionally huffing out a puff of smoke from his nostrils, his constant weight around her neck was reassuring, grounding, like Amity's arms wrapped around her neck, as comforting as it was though, she knew it could never quiet it completely, so she contented herself with selling her potions, busying herself with the hustle and bustle that always accompanied the market.


	2. Chapter 2

Ghouls and Gowns.

It was probably the nicest formal dress shop in all The Boiling Isles, and Amity had always imagined getting her wedding dress from this shop since she was a child, since before she had even met Luz. It was well known for it’s one of a kind garments, but they booked appointments for fittings out months in advance, sometimes even a year. Getting in with less than six months' notice was an impossible task, so maybe Amity had flexed her status and reputation a little to get such a short notice reservation, she wasn’t going to tell anyone about it, especially Luz.

Willow, Emira, and Viney were waiting outside the shop when they arrived.

“Hey, Mittens!” Her sister grinned at her as they approached. “Eda, Ms. Noceda.” she nodded, smiling at the older two women. 

"Hello, girls." Camila smiled at them.

"Thanks for coming." Amity smiled at the three.

“As if I’d let you do this without me.” Emira smiles at her.

"Of course!" Willow smiled.

"Wouldn't miss it," Viney agreed with a grin, crossing her arms.

"Well, we gonna do this or what?" Eda asked.

"Yeah, let's go." Amity nodded, rolling her eyes at the older, wild witch as they went into the shop. 

The room was large and spacious with a few white couches arranged into a semi-circle around a raised platform with a half-circle of full-length mirrors and row upon row of dresses in every size, style, and color one could imagine.

"Ahh, Miss. Blight, you're right on time.” The well-dressed clerk with long, straight black hair clapped her hands together and smiled at them. “Feel free to walk around and pick out anything you’d like and try on, and don’t hesitate to ask if you need anything.” 

“Thank you.” she nodded as they split up and wandered through the aisles.

“Any preferences Amity?” Willow asked, her voice carried over the racks.

“Not really… I kind of just hope I’ll know it when I see it I suppose...” 

“I don’t even remember what I was wearing when I got married…” Eda’s voice calls from somewhere behind her.

“You were married?!” The younger witches shout and Eda’s chuckle comes from somewhere in the store.

“Just for twelve hours, give or take. Sometimes you have to go that extra mile for the scam.” 

Amity rolled her eyes and shook her head at the woman Luz had chosen as a second mother and would be her second mother-in-law. 

“Well, why don’t we pick out some options for you to try on?” Her sister’s voice sounds from somewhere off to her left among the clothes.

“Yeah, let’s do that,” Amity called as she wandered up and down the aisles, it’s a little overwhelming, honestly. 

This is, so far, the only thing she and Luz hadn’t decided on together. They’d picked a date, a place, a time, and already sent out invitations to everyone that really mattered to them as well as arranged for the food and cake at the after-party. It was all fairly simple as far as weddings went, neither had any interest in a big, extravagant event. 

She felt a twinge in her chest. It had been well over two months and she still hadn’t heard from her father. She did her best to shove down the hurt feelings, she knew it was a high possibility that he might not come, but she had really hoped he would. She shook her head, she was shopping for her wedding dress, now was not the time to be sad, she should be happy, and she was, but there was still a twinge of sadness beneath, thinking that both her parents had all but abandoned her. She shook herself off and focused on the task at hand.

She picked a few dresses off the racks that she rather liked and met them back in front of the changing room and piled their suggestions into Amity’s arms. Her knees strained under the weight of the material, but she managed to get them back inside the dressing room. The first dress in the pile was a short, white, sheath dress, Amity wasn’t sure how she felt about it as she looked at herself in the mirror, but since it was on she may as well see what the others thought. 

“I can’t believe it’s just two months away.” Willow clapped her hands together.

“Seems like just yesterday Luz was denying she even had a crush on Amity and having a conniption in the living room.” Eda chuckled wistfully. “Now they’re getting hitched.” 

“When are you going to propose?” Emira huffed, crossing her arms and glancing sideways at her girlfriend who blinked owlishly at her. 

“Uh....” Viney is saved by Amity coming out of the dressing room and quickly garnering all of Emira’s, and everyone else’s attention.

“What do you all think?” Amity asked, stepping out.

“It’s cute, but I don't think that’s really what you’re going for for your wedding.” Emira cocked her head.

“It’s pretty,” Willow agreed. “Maybe a little on the short side, you are pretty tall.” Willow smiled.

“Yeah, I don’t love how short it is…,” she mumbled, smoothing her hands over the stiff material.

“Luz might…,” Viney chuckled, and Amity pinked. 

“Well, the color is fairly traditional…,” Camila threw in her own two cents, and can immediately tell by the confused faces the witches make that a white wedding dress isn’t something they do.

“Is white an important color in human weddings?” Willow looks at her curiously. 

“Important? No, but in the human world many cultures have brides wear white, though it’s more of an old tradition, it was a way to signify their virginity.” The assembled witches are looking at her strangely.

“Why?” Viney’s face is scrunched up in confusion at such a strange and frankly, embarrassing concept.

Camila pauses a second, trying to figure out how to explain old cultural traditions to people who have very different traditions and values of their own. 

“In most cultures, you aren’t meant to have sex before marriage and the white dress was a way of telling your future husband you hadn’t,” is the simplest way she can think to explain it.

“So white’s out then,” Emira grins wickedly, looking at Amity, who shoots her a withering look, if there is one thing she doesn’t want to talk about in front of her future mother-in-law, it’s having sex with her daughter. 

“Definitely out,” Eda chimes in, looking tired at the very thought and Amity slaps a hand to her face.

“It’s really just worn more for the sake of tradition now, you should pick whatever color you like, Cariño.” Camila frowns, she also does not want to talk about this. She’ll always think of Luz as her baby and she does not want to talk about her in any kind of passionate embrace with the young woman in front of her, or anyone really.

“Moving on,” Amity snaps when her sister starts to open her mouth again, a grin on her face. Emira pouts as Amity disappears back into the changing room and sets aside all the white dresses that have been hung up. She’s not going to have this conversation again. 

They go through a few more but Amity just can’t see herself getting married in them. She looks through them before deciding to try the last of her own picks but quickly spots a problem.

“Willow, can you come help me?” she calls and within a few seconds, Willow was popping her head in the dressing room.

“Whatcha need?” 

A few minutes after Willow disappears into the dressing room she comes back out, smiling giddily before Amity comes out behind her, and Emira gasps, as Eda lets out a low whistle.

"Oh, wow." Viney blinks and Camila can't help but think how incredibly lucky her daughter is.

It's long, stretching down to just above her ankles and in that dark shade of magenta Amity is known for, all save the sleeves and shoulders that stretched from the back of her hands up to the sides of her neck in black lace, strewn with floral patterns. She catches sight of herself in the mirror and can’t help but smile to herself. She likes the way it feels and looks on her skin. 

“What do you think?” Amity turns to look at them, doing a little spin, making the skirt flutter.

“Oh, I love it! The lacing in the back is cute too!” Emira gushes, looking at the dark lace that intricately zigzags across the small of her back, cinching it closed.

"It's beautiful." Willow clapped her hands and Viney nodded in agreement.

"You look wonderful, Cariño.”

“Yeah, the kid might just die when she sees you…,” Eda chuckled approvingly. 

“But, do you like it?” Viney asks and Amity smiles brightly to herself as she looks in the mirror and everyone can see it in the reflection. It's obvious to all of them that Amity loves the dress if that smile on her lips is anything to go by. 

“Yeah, I love this one.” she nods, trying not to let the stinging of her eyes turn to tears.

“Sounds like we got a winner to me.” Eda clapped her hands and stood from the couch.

“Yes, this is the one.” she smiled and turned to face them and the front of the shop. “I think…” There's a flash of white out of the corner of her eye and her head whips up and standing outside the glass are five figures in familiar off white cloaks and gray masks, gloved hands raised. She barely has enough time to whip up a hand, spell circle blazing to life and then there's a loud blast and the front windows explode in a shower of shattered glass and flames

Magic flies through the air into the street and people start screaming.

~ ~ 

Luz hummed to herself, quickly filling orders and trading them for snails while Calliban laid around her neck dozing, his flickering tail tickling her ear. Mochuelo had grown bored of the market and returned to his staff, holstered safely across her back.

The buzzing is still a quiet constant, but she manages to drown it out, for the most part, keeping herself busy, hocking potions to every passerby with an enthusiasm that would make a car salesman green with envy.

It was busier earlier but the market has thinned some now and Luz is leaning on her stand, chin in one hand and scratching Calliban's head with the other as he growled contentedly. She sighed and closed her eyes for a moment, picking up an elixir and rolling the round bottle around in her palm, trying to still her anxious energy. The market is quiet today until it isn’t. 

It was faint at first, a dull, distant noise. She didn't notice till a sudden stampede of people were running past her stand screaming and shouting that a group of loyalists were attacking the garment district of the market. Luz froze and the potion held in her hand fell from her limp grip, shattering as it hit the ground at her feet. Her whole body starts to seize up as cold dread spreads through her.

The constant, nagging anxiousness that had been whispering at the back of her mind all day comes roaring to the forefront, unable to be ignored and Luz is flooded with panic, all she could think of was the last time she had stood in this market during a similar situation; panic and bedlam erupting around her.

Suddenly she’s there again.

_The market is in flames and people are screaming as they run past her, smashing into her shoulders and stampeding all over each other in their panic, trying to escape imminent death in the approaching legion of white-cloaked loyalists that are systematically making their way through the district, killing anyone who does not kneel or run._

_There are at least a hundred of them marching down the main aisle of the market, tearing the stands apart and burning them down as they execute anyone who tries to stop them. They aren’t looking for anything or even stealing, they’re just destroying._

_There are too many people for her to fire off any spells and more importantly, somewhere beyond the line of approaching loyalists, was Amity, she’d been meeting a contact, alone, and is now behind the enemy line, and panic wells up in her, threatening to overflow. She takes off running and jumps on her staff, flying overhead, dodging and spinning through the sky as the air fills with shots of fire and loud crackling bolts of lightning that make her hair stand on end as they strike to close for comfort through the air near her head. She manages to get past the advancing force and behind them are stragglers, still destroying the market and blasting holes in the permanent buildings and another emotion rises up to join her panic. That’s one thing about the war that Luz had never expected to bring out in her: hot, indignant, frothing rage._

_Belos would rather destroy the Isles than lose his Iron grip on them, and now that they had pushed his forces back to the chest, he was doing just that. How many innocent witches, adults, and children had she seen slaughtered without a second thought by those wearing the off-white cloaks and gray masks? Too many to ever forget or to forgive, but right now, she can’t stop the bedlam going on below, to try would be suicide by herself, and it kills her inside to do nothing, but the best she can hope for is to find Amity and get out of here to muster their forces waiting to the south where they had been preparing to storm the castle for the last two weeks._

_She has to find her, quickly, they were less conspicuous apart so Luz had walked around the market while Amity went to meet their contact from the castle near the entrance to the night market, now as she flew over the market, eyes desperately moving over all the people running panicked through the market, flames, and smoke obscuring her sight, she wished she had insisted that she stay with her._

_Her teeth grit together as her eyes flicker from one gruesome section of the market to the next. Bodies are lying in the streets like bits of discarded trash and the stands and tents are burning like dry kindling, their crackling and popping fires fueled by spiteful magic, accompanied by a chorus of screams that thumps in her ears, a high pitched concerto in this death song. It’s not the first time she’s heard it, and it probably won’t be the last. Her eyes water from the smoke as she flies over the market, searching._

_“Where are you, where are you, where are you!?” Is her one screaming thought as her heart pounds in her chest._

_Suddenly, near the entrance to the night market, her eyes fall on a shakingly standing figure with bright, dual-colored hair but all Luz can see is the bright crimson staining her white cloak as a squadron of loyalists closes in on her._

_She doesn’t feel her mouth open or even recognizes the screaming voice that rips out of her own throat._

_“Amity!”_

Luz jerks suddenly, the buzzing has turned to loud static crackling across her body, shooting in electric bursts that make her twitch with pain as tense numbness that only makes her feel more panicked spreads through her body with cold dread. She can’t even feel Calliban rubbing himself against her neck, trying to quell the sudden panic he can feel radiating off her like the heat from the flames in her memories, feels the ghost of on her skin. Her heart is hammering in her ears and she grabs her staff off her back and jumps over the counter and is flying in the direction of the dress shop she knows Amity was going to. She has to see her, has to see with her own two eyes, know that’s she’s okay, has to, has to!

~ ~ ~

Amity scowled to herself as she ducked behind the overturned couch, spinning a circle and jumping up, flinging a wind spell that sent the group of loyalists stumbling backward as the gale-force winds pushed them back out toward the street, Viney, and Emira following up with a blast of fire, while vines have burst out of the ground to create a wall between them and their attackers. 

“Loyalists!” Eda spat.

“What are they doing here?” Willow frowns, throwing out another vine at an approaching loyalist, flinging them across the room like a sack of meat, before they hit the wall with a bang and fall to the floor, unmoving. 

“They want me if I had to guess,” Amity grits out between her teeth.

There are only six in the shop and three already lay motionless on the floor. When Belos had finally laid dead, those who had supported him scattered to the winds, the majority of people just gave up and moved on, accepting the new order, but some splinter groups remained loyal to the tyrant emperor, even in death. 

Amity jumped up, sending an abomination leaping through the air to pounce on one, crushing him beneath its weight. His comrade being crushed to death distracts the fifth long enough for Eda to send a bolt of lightning flying straight into their chest with her staff.

“Still got it!” Eda grinned as the loyalist's body lay smoking on the ground. Camila gave her a look. “What?”

The shop quieted and slowly they moved out from behind Willow's barrier to inspect the damage.

Amity frowned, looking around, frantically, the rest of the girls are looking for anymore, it seems they got them all. They cautiously move around the shop, careful of the broken glass, furniture, and turned over wracks of formal wear that lay singed or in ashes on the floor, checking to make sure the loyalists laying on the floor are really dead or unconscious. Movement out of the corner of her eye makes Eda turn to look.

“On your six!” Eda shouts from the other side of the shop and they turn to find a last masked loyalist, as he jumped out from behind a display on the sidewalk outside the doors, dark red spell circle already completed and about to fire a spell right at Amity when a scream makes them and the loyalist turn to look, and suddenly Luz flies into sight and is still airborne when she rips her staff out from under her and whips it back, still flying through the air and swinging with all her might. A sickening crunch fills the air as her staff crashes into them and the loyalists’ mask goes flying, clattering to the ground with a splatter of blood as they’re flung back from the vicious blow and hit the ground in an unmoving heap. Luz stumbles as she hits the ground but stays standing, panting heavily, staff clutched tightly in her white-knuckled grip, and face pulled back in a manic snarl.

The women are frozen as they look at Luz 

Camila’s mouth hangs open in horror, as it had been nearly since the attack had started, but especially now, as she looks at her baby, panting and standing hunched over the fallen attacker, trembling, and looking crazed. 

Emira actually comes out of it first and is quickly shoving Amity into the dressing room, out of her fiancée's sight.

“Wha- Em! What are you doing!?” She shouts at her as she pushes her behind the door.

“She can’t see you in that before the wedding!” Emira reminds as she locks the door behind them.

“Is that really important right now?!” Amity yells at her sister.

“Change quickly!” Emira helps her quickly start unlacing the back.

“Kid, what are you doing here?” Eda calls as she quickly walks up to Luz and the second she turns to look at her, she knows Luz is only barely there. Her pupils are blown wide and she’s looking around frantically and not seeing her fiancée, which only makes the panic in her eyes double. Eda clenches her jaw, hissing expletives under her breath; she’s having an episode. 

“Where’s Amity?!” Even if everyone hadn’t immediately seen the crazed look on her face, they hear the panic and alarm in her voice the second she speaks, as does Amity in the dressing room, and after how Luz had been this morning she knows exactly what is happening outside the dressing room.

“Hurry!” Amity barks at her sister who unlaces her as fast as her fingers can manage, swearing under her breath at the complicated backing. 

“Stupid fucking lace!” Emira spits. 

“Calm down, she’s fine, Luz, we promise,” Viney tries, scooting closer, slowly, she too knows what is happening and Luz is liable to bolt for the changing room, and while she doesn’t care one way or the other if Luz sees Amity in her dress, they don’t need her ripping the door off the hinges to a half-dressed or undressed Amity. 

“No, No! I have to see her now, I have to!” She’s shaking her head and her eyes are starting to glaze over, body quaking with visible tremors. 

“Luz, relax, Amity is fine, she’s just changing.” Willow holds up her hands as she carefully approaches her friend who is clearly having a panic attack. They all had seen it happen before, just after the war, just once, but it was enough to always remember, and Willow had her own specters from the war, after all. They all did and knew what behavior to look for, and right now, Luz was a glowing beacon of distress. 

Wide, brown eyes whip to the changing room, and predictably, she bolts forward, so do Viney and Willow, grabbing her in their tight grips

Luz growls, immediately trying to break free, kicking and screaming and it’s all Willow and Viney can do to keep her still as her staff clatters to the floor as she pushes at their hands.

“Let go!” she snarls, she’s past hearing anything they say until she sees Amity with her own eyes, heart pounding in her ears. Nothing else will ease the hands of panic wrapped chokingly around her throat and dipping into her chest to squeeze her heart, threatening to pop it. 

“Mija, it’s okay…!” Camila starts but Eda puts a hand on her shoulder and gives her a look she can’t really describe. 

“She can’t hear you, she’s having an… episode,” Eda says quietly and Camila blinks.

“Episode?” Camila asks, eyes back on Luz, she holds her hands over her mouth as Luz thrashes wildly in Willow and Viney’s grasp. Eda scowls to herself, watching Luz panic in her friend’s grip, writhing and screaming. She’s seen Luz have episodes before, exactly twice since the war had ended, they had been hard to watch, but even by those standards, this one is bad. She’d already been feeling off this morning, but the attack from one of the remaining loyalist splinter groups had triggered an epic meltdown in the human. 

Eda quietly explains this quickly to Camila who comes to a startling realization, tears welling up in the corners of her eyes.

“She has PTSD…,” Camila chokes, chest aching as her baby is still screaming and fighting against her closest friends who can barely contain her, they fear using magic to hold her will only make her thrash and fight harder, maybe hurt herself.

“Luz, please, it’s okay!” Willow clutches her friend tightly, she hurts for her, and Viney grimaces, arms looped through Luz’s while Willow clings to her waist as she bucks and strains against them. 

“ARGHHH!” Luz threw her head back and the loud, high-pitched, wailing sound that rips out of her throat has no words, but the agony it carries is visceral and they can all feel it echo in the core of their beings. Inside the dressing room, Emira feels a cold chill go up her spine at the sound. Luz is howling as though someone has died and Amity is nearly in tears. 

Finally, she turns and bursts out of the dressing room, Emira yelling back at her.

“Amity, your shirt!” she yells.

She ignores her and dashes around the corner, barefoot, and only half-dressed in her pants and bra. She was dressed enough, she couldn’t stand listening to Luz’s anguished wails that cut deep into her heart another second. 

“Luz, it’s okay!” she hurried forward and the second Luz’s eyes land on her the fight drains out of her like rushing water. Viney and Willow step back as she launched herself at Amity, who grunts as her fiancée grabs her in a bone-crushing embrace. She can feel her whole body shaking 

“You’re okay, you’re okay…,” Luz chokes on her gurgled words before she finally burst into tears, burying her face in Amity’s neck, wailing, her nails are digging painfully into the skin of Amity’s back but she barely notices it as she runs her fingers through Luz’s hair as her knees buckle and she carefully lowers Luz and herself both to the floor, mindful of the glass still scattered across the floor. 

“I’m okay,” she whispers back softly, squeezing back. “It’s okay, love, everything is alright," she coos softly into her ear. 

Emira comes out of the dressing room with the dress carefully folded and in its box and glanced worriedly at them as she walks past to the counter, the others join her, leaving the couple alone on the floor, trying hard to ignore the sounds of Luz’s muffled sobbing or Amity’s mumbled words of comfort. 

“We’ll take this,” she tells the still cowering clerk behind the counter.

“You fought off the loyalists, just take it,” the witch insists, shoving it back to them.

"Amity won't want us to do that…," Willow says quietly, frowning.

"She won't complain this time," Eda decides for them, taking the box off the counter and walking out the door. "Come on, let's give the kids a few minutes."

They follow Eda out, Camila does so reluctantly, glancing over her shoulder at her daughter, curled up tightly in Amity’s arms on the floor.

“Everything is alright,” Amity mumbles, burying her face in her weeping lover’s hair, tears dripping down her own cheeks. “It's okay, Luz.” she shoves as much conviction into these words as possible, willing Luz to believe them. 

It takes a good half hour before Luz can stop crying and squeezing Amity tightly against her. The panic that had choked her and clouded her mind has ebbed away, receding to the same quiet buzzing it had been before. She can feel Calliban still wrapped around her neck, his warm scaly body scrapes her neck as he moves, trying to comfort her.

She sniffles and takes a shaky breath.

“Mierda… I’m sorry,” she finally manages to say. “… people were running and screaming through the market and I...I...”

“Shhh, don’t be sorry,” Amity says, cutting her off gently as she cards her fingers through her hair, gently scratching her scalp. “I know, I understand,” she feels Luz go limp against her before she pulled back to look at her and Amity reached up to wipe away the remains of any tears still sliding down Luz's flushed cheeks. “Are you okay enough to go home?” she asks and Luz lets out a shaky breath but nods. 

“Yeah” she nodded. 

“Good, I still need to finish getting dressed…” Amity tells her and Luz blinks, finally really looking at Amity and noticing her less than fully dressed state.

“¡Ay Dios mio! Lo siento mucho, Amor.” Luz grimaced, pulling her cloak off her shoulders with still shaky hands and draped it over Amity, who smiled softly at her.

"It's alright, Luz," she assured her as they stood and Amity disappeared back into the dressing room for a few minutes before coming back out fully dressed and Luz's cloak in hand. 

She laid it back across her shoulders before meeting the others, still standing outside the shop.

"Hey, Kid. You okay?" Eda asked once they appeared.

"I'll be okay…just… sorry…" she gives a tired shrug. Now that the panicked energy has left her she's exhausted. 

"Mija, why didn't you tell me you had PTSD?" Camila asks her, and Luz blinks.

"Oh… I never thought about it, yeah… I guess I do…" Luz frowned.

"What's PTSD?" Emira blinks.

Camila spends the next hour explaining to the witches what PTSD is and by the time the day is done, several of them leave knowing a little more about themselves now than they did before. 

Emira and Viney leave on Puddles and Willow makes her own goodbyes as well, before leaving for home.

Eda takes Camila and the dress back to the house with promises to start on dinner.

Amity goes with Luz to pack up her stall in the market. She can tell that Luz is drained but she's also avoiding Amity's gaze, which makes her frown. She reached over and rubbed her arm.

"I know this is a stupid question, but are you okay?" she asks.

"Yeah… I just feel like I ruined your dress thing." Luz frowned and Amity's eyes widened. 

"No, Luz, those loyalists did that, you didn't ruin anything." Amity takes hold of both her arms and forces her to face her.

"I don't think my showing up and acting like a lunatic helped things,” Luz grunted, eyes trained on the ground. That wouldn’t do. Amity reached up and gently took hold of her chin. Luz didn’t resist as she lifted her head to lock eyes with her. 

“Hey, I understand, you know I do. That… panic just takes hold of you and it’s all you can do to hold yourself together, I get it. I feel that way some days too. When sounds are too loud and lights are too bright, it feels like you can’t breathe…,” she lets go of her chin to gently cup one of Luz’s warm cheeks. “I know, just like I know when I’m having those days you're there for me, and I'll be there for you. Today was hard, and some days will be, but it’s okay, we’ll get through them, together.” she smiled and Luz sighed heavily through her nose as she reached up to press her hand over hers and turned her head to press a kiss to Amity’s palm. 

“Together,” Luz agreed. 

They make quick work of closing up her stand and head home on Amity’s staff. Luz lays her head tiredly on Amity’s shoulder the whole way, arms wrapped around her waist, drawing comfort from the warm body pressed to hers. 

They have dinner with her moms and Lilith, King doing a lot to lighten the mood when he climbs on the table and tries to steal food from Eda’s plate, triggering a massive food fight before Amity takes Camila back through the portal, while Luz sits tiredly on the couch.

“You doing okay, Kid?” Eda plops down next to her and Luz sighs.

“I guess, just tired, and I feel like I made a fool of myself in front of everyone today,” she grumbled.

“Ah, don’t worry about that, everyone understands, especially after Cam explained the whole PTSD thing, honestly, I think most people that fought in the war got a little of it, I know sometimes Lily is kind of tense...er than usual anyway. You and Amity, you did a lot of fighting, saw a lot of tough stuff. I’d be more concerned if you two weren’t affected. I mean, you two were the ones that killed Belos too.” 

Luz flinched at that, eyes squeezing shut

“I don’t want to talk about that today.” Luz turned her head away and Eda frowned but nodded to herself.

“Sure, Kid.” 

“Also, since when did Mami become ‘Cam’?” Luz turned back to face her, brow cocked and Eda grinned.

“We've been talking.” she shrugged. Luz wasn’t sure she liked the way Eda was grinning about that. She was ecstatic they were getting along, but maybe better than she had anticipated.

“About what?”

“All kinds of stuff, mostly you, but lots of stuff, see?” she pointed to the family photo wall and for the first time, Luz noticed some new additions and groaned when her eyes fell on a slew of her baby photos that had definitely not been there before.

“She’s been coming to have tea time with me and Lily, we trade photos.” Eda grinned.

“Of course she has,” luz groaned and Eda cackled. “I’m gonna go lay down,” Luz mumbled, hauling herself to her feet. “Night.” she waved as she climbed the stairs.

“Night, Kid.” 

It’s all luz can do to kick off her shoes and lay her staff and pouches on the desk before flopping back into bed with a sigh, eyes closed.

She’s not sure how long she lays there but after a while, she hears the bedroom door open and closes softly, followed by light, quiet steps she’d recognize anywhere. She listens to Amity move about their bedroom quietly for a few minutes before the bed dips and she slots herself against Luz’s side, arm draped over her waist and head on her shoulder.

“Are you awake?” is the quiet question and Luz hums affirmatively. 

“Just trying to relax…,” she mumbled with a sigh.

“Maybe I can help…” is the quiet, lilted reply and Luz can’t help but laugh, eyes opening as she turned on her side to face Amity, brown meeting gold.

“Tempting, but I don’t have it in me tonight.” she grinned and Amity grins back at her and shrugs.

“Thought I’d offer.” 

Luz chuckled and pulled her closer, foreheads touching.

“This is fine,” she murmurs, eyes closing again. Amity hums against her and they lay there quietly for a while. The buzzing has finally quieted, leaving her in wonderful, blissful silence, muscles finally full relaxing. 

Till a quiet tapping makes her eyes pop open to stare into Amity’s, gold eyes silently telling her that she hears it too. 

Luz props herself up on one arm and looks around their room, the tapping starts again and she catches a tiny shadow outside the window through the stained glass.

She growls, eyes narrowing but then Amity raises a finger and casts a spell circle, the window swings open, and sitting on the windowsill is a snake. 

A dark purple and black cobra with gold eyes and Amity sat up immediately. 

“A snake?” Luz blinks as it slithers into the room, a rolled-up piece of parchment held in its curled tail.

“It’s Thrasus... my dad’s palisman…,” Amity mumbled, reaching down to let the cobra slither up her arm, it looked at her expectantly and she ran a finger over his smooth, scaled head before taking the paper held in his tail.

“What’s it say?” Luz leaned in over her shoulder to see the paper.

Amity bit her lip, eyes scanning the paper quickly as her eyes glazed over.

“He’s coming…,” she mumbled after a moment. “He’s coming to the wedding.” she smiled to herself and Luz squeezed her shoulders.

“That’s great, mi amor!” Luz grinned. 

“Yeah…,” Amity mumbled, still smiling to herself.

“...We should sit him next to mom..” Luz laughed after a moment and Amity snorted, turning to smack her with the paper. 

“Titan, no!” she laughed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welp, all that's left is the wedding!

**Author's Note:**

> this got really long so im gonna break it into 2 parts.


End file.
